Framed construction, including stillage and pallet



F. M. MONTGOMERY Jan. 18, 1955 FRAMED CONSTRUCTION, INCLUDING STILLAGE AND PALLET Filed March 25, 1952 5 Shets-Sheet v1 In van 1 v Jan. 18, 1955 F. M. MONTGOMERY 2,699,910

FRAMED CONSTRUCTION, INCLUDING STILLAGE AND PALLET Filed March 25, 1952 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 b N I N "if, a k

Q N i w A Q 1 I N x HA I N $l a m gg N i fnvt f I Jan. 18, 1955 F. M. MONTGOMERY 'FRAMED CONSTRUCTION, INCLUDING STILLAGE AND PALLET Filed March 25, 1952 IH III ll lyl" 1 5 Sheets-Sheet I5 j en hrr M w, 14M

Jan. 18, 1955 F. M. MONTGOMERY 0 FRAMED CONSTRUCTION, INCLUDING STILLAGE AND PALLET Filed March 25, 1952 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 HIQ EJZ' Jan. 18, 1955 F. M. MONTGOMERY 2,699,910

FRAMED CONSTRUCTION, INCLUDING STILLAGE AND PALLET United States Patent Ofiice 2,699,910 Patented Jan.. 18, 1955 FRAMED CONSTRUCTION, INCLUDING STILLAGE AND PALLET Francis Mortimer Montgomery, Reading, England Application March 25, 1952, Serial No. 278,387 11 claimsftcl. 248-120) This invention comprises improvements in or relating to stock for and the manufacture of stillages, pallets and like temporary supports for storing goods and framed floor and like constructions. It is an object of the invention to facilitate the manufacture of such constructions and the like from sheet or strip metal, particularly of steel. Many such articles must be of light weight and therefore of thin material and there is difliculty 1n making them strong enough to stand up to the shocks met with in use. Moreover, a pallet normally consists of an upper and lower deck connected together by posts at intervals suificient to allow the entry between the posts of the forks of a fork lifting-truck. If the posts and decks are made of strips welded together in designs hitherto in use, there are too many shapes called for to make the manufacture economical "and the exposed edges of the metal offer places of weakness and their sharp edges tend to fracture paper bags or other packing materials with which they may come in contact while in use.

According to the present invention a basic element from which pallets, stillages and other frames and like constructions can be built up consists of tubular workhardened stock flattened in shape along two opposite sides and having edges to its walls which overlap one another to form and open lapped joint along a third side.

By an open lapped joint is meant that the outer overlapping edge of the two is spaced away from the surface of the wall which it overlaps sufficiently to permit the insertion if desired of an edge of a piece of metal of like thickness. By cold-rolling or drawing the material maximum hardness and strength is attained and the stock can be made in long lengths which can be cut for use as desired, and such a section can be used in so many positions as hereinafter more fully explained that it can be manufactured economically in large quantities as a stock section.

In a preferred form the stock is shaped in section substantially as a rectangle with two corners of one of its narrow sides bevelled or rounded and having its walls overlapping one another to form an open lapped joint along another side. In this case the open lapped joint preferably runs along the opposite narrow side from the bevelled or rounded one.

The above-described stock can be advantageously used in conjunction with another form of stock of corrugatedsection and with yet another form which is channelshaped, the relative dimensions of the several sections being arranged to suit one another.

One construction of pallet in accordance with this invention is built up from lengths of tubular stock as above described, used as frame members and welded together in combination with floor-members extending across the frame from side to side and with supports below the frame and floor members at intervals to raise them from the ground. In one form the floor members consist of longitudinally corrugated lengths of strip metal.

In addition to the tubular frame members, channelshaped stock may be provided having the internal distance between its flanges equal to the external width between the flattened or wider sides of the tubular stock and the external depth from the back of the channel to the plane of the front edges thereof less than the width of the flattened face of one of the said wider sides, the

channel-shaped stock being employed. as a bearer or bearers to support the floor members of the pallet.

Floor members for pallets can be also conveniently and very strongly made by reversing two lengths of the aforesaid tubular stock in relation to each other and locking the outer member of the open lapped joint of each in the opening of the joint of the other. The locking of the two lengths together can conveniently be effected by tack-welding them together at intervals. Thus a flat slat is made with bevelled edges and a strong transverse web in the centre where it is welded. Two or three such slats will form a bottom deck for the pallet.

While, as hereinafter more fully described, the invention is particularly useful in the manufacture of pallets and stillages, it can also be applied in the manufacture of other framed structures which need to be strong and of light weight. For example work-hardened strip-metal stock of the kind herein described and claimed can be advantageously employed in the construction of prefabricated flooring for caravans, portable buildings or even houses, and in the manufacture of caravans, shelving, fencing gates and the like.

The following is a description by way of example of stock sections according to this invention and of various 1 forms of pallet built up therefrom.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a transverse section through a length of tubular stock; 7

Figure 2 is a similar view of channel-section stock;

Figure 3 is a cross-section of a corrugated floor section;

Figure 4 is a similar view of an alternative corrugated section;

Figure 5 is a plan of a flat pallet;

Figure 6 is a section of the same on the line 6--6 of Figure 5, looking in the direction of the arrows 6;

Figure 7 is a plan of a box-pallet;

Figure 8 is a section upon the line 88 of Figure 7 looking in the direction of the arrows 8, and,

Figure 9 is a perspective detail of one corner of the pallet of Figures 7 and 8, viewed from the interior of the pallet.

Referring to Figure 1, this shows a transverse section through a length of tubular stock which comprises flattened sides 11 connected together at one end by a narrow transverse wall 13 and two portions 14, 15 which are at an angle of 45 to the flattened sides and the end wall 13 of the section. Apart from the bevelled portions 14, 15 the section is substantially a rectangle and at the other end of the rectangle from the wall 13 the walls are bent inwards so as to overlap one another as shown by the portions 16, 17 leaving a space 18 between them. That is to say, the overlapping portions 16, 17 constitute an open lapped joint. The space 18 is approximately equal to the thickness of the metal of the tubular section, a provision which as can be seen from some of the other figures of the drawings enables various other pieces to be interlocked with the tubular section. For example, in Figure 6 of the drawing the base slats 20 of the pallet each consist of two tubular sections similar to that of Figure 1 reversed in relation to one another and each having the wall 16 of the section inserted into the opening 18 of the opposite section. They thereby lock together and can be secured by a few tack welds to make a combined slat with bevelled edges, such a slat being of great strength on account of the upper and lower faces being united together by the walls 16 which extend across between them. However, the lnterlocking of the sections is not restricted to this form, as will hereinafter appear.

Referring to Figure 2, this shows a section through channel-section stock and consists of a web portion 21 hav1 ng flanges 22, 23 united to the web portion by bevelled portions 24, 25. The distance between the inner faces 26 of the flanges 22, 23 is made equal to the distance between the outside of the flattened sides 11 of the tubular section of Figure l and the depth of the channel from the outside of the web 21 to the edges of the flanges 22, 23 is made equal to the external distance between the flattened sides 11 of the tubular stock minus the depth of the further sections shown in Figure 3, for reasons which will hereinafter appear.

Referring to Figure 3, this shows a section through a corrugated slat having a fiat upper surface 126 with downturned flanges 27 along each edge and longitudinal trough portions 28 which interrupt the flat upper surface 1262' The depth of the trough portions is made equal to the depth of the downturned flanges 27', and as already explained the depth of these flanges is made just sufficienttomake up the difference between the dimension of the channel shown in Figure 2 from the outer face of the web 21 to the edges ofthe flanges 22, 23 and the external dimension of the tubular stock of Figure 1 between the outer faces of the flattened sides ll.

Figure 4 shows a narrower type of floor slat having an upper surface 29 along which runs a single trough or corrugation 30 and downturned flanges 31. The depth of the trough 30 and the flanges 31 is equal to the dimension of the trough portions 2?: and flanges 27 of Figure 3. It is not necessary to provide both the sections of Figures 3 and 4, either being adopted according to choice.

Referring now to Figures 5 and 6, these show a flat pallet built up from the sections Figures 1, 2 and 4.

As already pointed out, slats 29 are made by taking for each slat two lengths of the tubular top, Figure l, reversing them in relation to each other with their lapped joints in contiguity to bring them together at the joints by entering the outer lapped edge 16 of each length into the space 18 between the inner and outer lapped edges of the other length. The two lengths are tack-welded together at intervals and make a flat slat with bevelled edges and a strong transverse web in the centre where it is welded. The three slats 20 form a bottom deck for the pallet. On the slats are welded at intervals short upstanding posts 49, 41. The posts 4i), as can be seen in Figure 5, consist of short lengths of the tubular section of Figure 1 set on end and disposed cornerwise to the pallet with their bevelled edges facing the corner. The posts 41 stand in the middle of each of the longer sides of the pallet and each of them consists of two pieces of the tubular section of Figure 1 locked together and stood on end. The outer section 42 of each post 41 is a little shorter than the inner section. Upon the posts is a rectangular frame the sides 43 of which consist of lengths of the tubular stock and the end 44 of which consists of lengths of the channel section shown in Figure 2.

These are welded together at the corners and the tubular portions 43 of the frame rest on the top of the post 40 and of the shorter sections 42 of the posts 41. These sections 42 are made the same length as the posts 4 .3. The longer portions which rest on the inner part of the slats 20 of the lower deck extend up inside the tubular sides 43 of the framework but come short of the level of the top face of the sides 43 by an amount equal to the thickness of the metal of the slats shown in Figure 4.

A number of slats 45 of the section shown in Figure 4 are taken and cut to length and fixed in the frame constituted by the tubular sides 43 and ends 44. Those slats 45 which are contiguous to the sides 43 have one of their flanges entered in the open lapped joint of the sides 43, as can be seen in Figure 6. The ends of all the slats are welded to the inside of the upper flange of the end members 44 of the frame. in order to support the slats more adequately there are channel-shaped cross members 46 which are laid on their backs and the ends of which are welded to the inner walls (corresponding to the wall 16 of Figure 1) of the side members 43. The cross members 46 are connected by longitudinals 47 also made of channel section and lying on their backs, which are welded between the cross members. Furthermore, there is a central support of inverted channel section 48 which is welded across between the longitudinals 47. This also consists of a piece of channel section material, lying on its back. It is supported by a short column 49 consisting of two interlocked lengths of the tubular stock of Figure l and resting on the central slat 2%. As can be seen from Figure 5 of the drawing two of the slats 45 are disposed so that they overlie the longitudinal channeled members 47 to which they are welded at the edge 50, seen in Figure 6. The central slat 45 is supported at the three places where it crosses the members 46 and 48, by resting direct on these members, and it is further supported at its ends by short upstanding columns 51 made from pieces of the same sections as the slats themselves.

From this it will be seen that all the floor slats 45 are well supported at intermediate points in their length as well as at their ends from the base slats 20. At the same time the columns to use up short lengths of stock which are left overwhen the longer lengths are cut, and owing to the dimensions of the sections of stock having been properly chosen as above explained, they fit together readily to make a flat floor for the upper deck.

It is to be observed of such a pallet that- (a) The lower-deck slats 20, being bevelled along all their edges, do not cut paper sacks on which they may be rested, and they make it easy for truck-fork rollers to ride over them when so required.

(12) The posts 40, 41, 49 and 51 having bevelled outer faces, stand blows from the truck forks well and tend to guide the forks into the spaces between them.

(0) The upper deck has a very strong bevelled edge to withstand blows and help to guide forks beneath it; furthermore, the bevelled edge will rest well on the forks of fork trucks, even when it comes close into the angle between the roots of the forks and the backs of the bracket which carries them, which is usually provided with a radius.

The construction shown in Figures 7, 8 and 9 is of value whereit is desired to use, for example, a wooden floor to a box pallet with a steel frame. Lengths of the tubular stock of Figure l are turned on end and form the corner columns at) of the pallet. As will be seen each corner column 6t consists of two lengths of the tubular section which. are set at right angles to one another so that their bevelled corners coincide and are tack-welded together to constitute an L-shaped column. Each column rests on and is welded to a pressed sheet metal base 61 having a bottom flange 62 to rest on the floor. Between the columns and a little above the bases 61 there extend horizontal frame members 62 the ends of which are welded to the columns. To the inner faces of the horizontal frame member 62 lengths 63 of channel section stock are welded. These re united together where they run into the angle within the columns 60 as seen in Figure 9. The upper edges of the channel members 63 are welded at such a point that they come some distance below the upper edges of the tubular member 62 and a recess is thus formed all round into which wooden floor boards 64 are dropped.

As can be seen from Figure 8 of the drawing, the box sides of the pallet are also made of wooden boards 65, standing up. The boards 65 rest upon the lower longitudinal members 62 and are backed up by metal slats 66, 67 which are welded to the corner columns. The lower slats 66 have one of their flanges entered into the open lapped joint of the tubular members 62 and this makes a strong connection at the bottom of the box. The upper slats 67, are also welded to a capping member 68 made of the channel section stock 22 inverted. As can be seen from Figure 8 the boards 65 of the sides of the box are made of such a thickness and length that their upper ends can be slipped up into the space between one of the flanges of the capping member 68 and the slats 67 and they are thus held in place without being further secured. At the lower ends, where they rest on the horizontal member 62, they are held in place by the floor boards 64 which are made thick enough to stand up a little above the upper edge of the horizontal member 62 and are dropped in place to form the floor after the boards 65 are in position. Thus none of the boards need to be bolted in place and the time taken to fit the boards of the sides and floor into the pallet, if they have been previously sawn to the correct length, is almost negligible.

As will be seen from Figures 7 and 8 short lengths 70 of the channel section are welded to the tops of the column 60 as caps.

Here again it will be noted that the dimension of the sections of Figures 1 to 4 are such as to enable the interfitting parts of the structure easily to co-operate with one another.

Again, for another form of construction, it is possible to take the channel section Figure 2 and insert in it a length of the same section at right angles, with the result that a 4 inch gap remains in which to house the ends of a centrally corrugated strip, Figure 3 and Figure 4.

Other combinations can be selected in accordance with the requirements of the particular position annd construction of each pallet under consideration. Thus, by utilising these three sections to manufacture a wide variety of pallets, it is possible to effect economy in manufacture and furthermore to assure adequate stocks of material for quick production of a multiplicity of types.

While the specific instances shown in the drawing are for the use of the invention in the manufacture of pallets,

it will be readily apparent how the sections described can be employed for other framed or prefabricated manufactures such as floors. In the case of very large floors, as for temporary houses, similar sections but of larger dimensions will be employed.

I claim:

1. A pallet comprising in combination a rectangular frame made of metallic tubular longitudinals, each of which has flat walls along two opposite sides, united integrally by a transverse wall along a third side and having in-turned overlapping edges along a fourth side, which overlapping edges do not touch one another, transverse frame members uniting the longitudinals at their ends, additional longitudinal members interlocked with the tubular longitudinals by having an in-turned edge entered between the said overlapping edges thereof, posts to carry theframe above floor level, and floor members fitting into the frame and extending across the same to carry goods.

2. A pallet as claimed in claim 1 wherein the floormembers consist of longitudinally corrugated lengths of strip metal.

3. A pallet as claimed in claim 2 wherein, in addition to the tubular frame members, channel-shaped stock is provided having the internal distance between its flanges equal to the external width between the flattened sides of the tubular stock and the external depth from the back of the channel to the plane of the front edges thereof less than the width of one of the said flattened sides, the channel-shaped stock being welded within the frame as bearers to support the floor members of the pallet.

4. A pallet as claimed in claim 3, wherein the depth of the corrugations of the floor members is equal to the dilference between said external depth of the channel members and the width of the tubular stock measured from the open lapped joint to the opposite edges of the flattened faces (but not including any rounded or bevelled portion thereof).

5. A pallet as claimed in claim 1 wherein base slats are provided by reversing two lengths of tubular stock in relation to each other and locking the outer member of the open lapped joint of each in the opening of the joint of the other, the base slats serving to support the posts which carry the frame.

6. A pallet as claimed in claim 1 wherein the tubular 6 horizontal members connecting the corner columns together have secured along their inner faces lengths of other stock at such level that the upper face thereof will support floor members which are confined laterally and longitudinally between the tubular members referred to.

7. A pallet as claimed in claim 1 wherein above the horizontal tubular member which unites the corner columns together there are other horizontal members to act as supports for side-boards for the pallet.

8. A box pallet as claimed in claim 7 wherein the supports for the side-boards consist of corrugated slats of such thickness and so disposed that the boards which they enclose can rest at their lower ends on part of the upper surface of the horizontal tubular members.

9. A box pallet as claimed in claim 8 wherein the sideboards are confined at their upper ends by guiding members formed from channel-shaped material and secured horizontally between the columns with their flanges pointing downwards.

10. A box pallet as claimed in claim 7 wherein the side-boards are confined at their lower ends by the floor boards, which are made thick enough to stand up above the level of the bottom ends of the side-boards.

11. A pallet built up from lengths of tubular work hardened metallic stock having walls which are flat in shape along two opposite sides, are united by a transverse wall along a third side so as to be integral with each other, and along a fourth side are in-turned towards one another so that their edges overlap but do not touch each other, said pallet consisting of corner columns each made of two lengths of said tubular stock welded together at right angles to each other, feet for the corner columns and horizontal members of said tubular stock welded to them and serving to connect them together.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 71,222 Rohrman Nov. 19, 1867 183,876 Wakeman Oct. 31, 1876 2,381,178 Munyon Aug. 7, 1945 2,497,453 Hazen Feb, 14, 1950 2,503,562 Porter Apr. 11, 1950 

